Ghost Pointer
Point at things on someone else’s screen, over the internet — decoupled from whatever is sharing it.
built 3 Sep 2026 · sha256 fcc1853c88b3c509…
The Windows build has been withdrawn. It was up briefly on 31 August and it does not work — it stops responding. If you installed it, uninstall it; it is not safe to leave running. A fixed one will go up once it has been tested on a real Windows machine rather than only compiled for one.
What it is
Somebody shares their screen on a call. You see it in a window on your own desktop. You arm a hotkey, move your mouse over that window, and a ghost cursor appears on their actual desktop and follows you, with a short fading trail.
It is not tied to Zoom, Meet, Teams or anything else, because it never talks to them. It just draws a dot on a desktop — so it works with whatever you already use, and keeps working when you switch.
- Never captures the screen. It asks for no screen-recording permission and cannot see anything.
- Never controls the machine. No clicks, no keystrokes, no remote control.
- Never sends anything but coordinates. Two numbers between 0 and 1. That is the whole payload.
On macOS it needs no permissions at all — neither side gets a single permission dialog. That was measured on real hardware, not assumed.
Installing it
This build is not signed yet, so macOS will block it once
Signing needs a paid Apple developer account, and this is a test build. Nothing is wrong with the app — macOS simply refuses to vouch for a developer it has never been told about. You have to allow it by hand, one time, per machine.
- Open the
.dmgand drag Ghost Pointer into Applications. - Open it. macOS says it cannot verify the developer — dismiss that.
- Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the bottom, and click Open Anyway next to Ghost Pointer.
- Open it again and confirm. That is the last time you will see it.
Or skip all of that from a terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/Ghost Pointer.app"
Using it
Install it on both machines — it is one app, and you pick your side when you open it.
| 1. Pick a side | I’m pointing if you are the one pointing; Point at me if you are sharing your screen. |
| 2. Room code | One of you presses New, then Copy, and sends the six characters to the other. Both press Connect. The code is hidden by default — anyone who can read it off a shared screen can join the room — so Show reveals it when you actually want it visible. |
| 3. Guest picks a screen | Whoever is sharing chooses which of their displays it is. The app never looks — you have to say. |
| 4. Host sets the aim area | Click Set the aim area, then drag a box around the window showing their screen. The box snaps to the shape of their display. Do it again whenever that window moves. |
| 5. Point | Press the arm key — Alt+Shift+A by default — and move your mouse. Press it again to stop. Or switch to Hold ⌥ and point only while Option is down. |
| 6. Pulse | Alt+Shift+B puts a ring on their screen where the ghost is. A key rather than a mouse click on purpose — a click would also land in whatever window is under your cursor. |
What it does not do yet
Drawing, accounts, a menu-bar icon, reconnecting on its own, and pointing from Windows.
Pulses and text do not reach the other machine yet. Both are built into the app and both draw on your own screen, but the relay in the middle carries pointer movement only — so the person you are pointing at will not see them. Pointing itself works fully, between machines, which is the one thing this build exists to answer: does pointing at someone else’s screen actually feel good?